


Turbulent Waters

by Lightning of Farosh (Medea_Nunc_Sum), Sillus



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Drowning, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Swimming, hyrule centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medea_Nunc_Sum/pseuds/Lightning%20of%20Farosh, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sillus/pseuds/Sillus
Summary: “Not gonna swim?”Legend’s voice dragged Hyrule from his thoughts. Sunlight shone off his blonde hair, lines of white spinning across his tunic from the water. A pleased flush sat heavy on his cheeks, eyes bright as the river lapped close to his feet.“Oh,” Hyrule said, wiping his hand down his tunic. “No,” he told Legend, “I think I’m going to pass.”written for an anonymous prompt given by a winner during the lu discord birthday bash
Relationships: Four & Hyrule (Linked Universe), Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe), Hyrule & Wild (Linked Universe)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 359





	Turbulent Waters

Dirt sifted underneath Hyrule’s boots, damp and sticking to the leather in cool, muddied clumps. His equipment had been placed to the side, as his eyes drunk in sunlight that turned the towering pines around them gold. They swayed drunkenly, still at the base and caught in a song of careful wind chimes that played only for them. 

A backdrop of pale blue-grey rock formed a shield against the world; the faces of the goddesses to protect them from the heat of the summer. The boulders were cool, untouched, dotted by a small green and grey moss-like plant. He laid his pack against one and watched as Four laughed, clambering on top of another to get away from Warrior’s grasping fingers.

Hyrule flinched away from a splash. It interrupted birdsong, crested over his thundering heart, and he spun around, almost tripping over his heels as he thought about wide mouths filled with sharpened teeth—

Sky surfaced, laughing, breaking the clear mirror of the river and wiping his bangs away from his eyes. 

One by one, Hyrule peeled his fingers away from the pommel of his sword.  _ Relax, _ chastised his whirling thoughts,  _ You’re safe here. _

But try as he might, he would never understand why the others enjoyed playing in water. Water left them vulnerable, slowed their movements, took away the air. They were not meant to be in the water, and the monsters  _ knew that.  _ Could they not see how much danger they were in at this exact moment? Anything could lurk beneath the surface of the innocent waves, watching, waiting, ready to drag him under where he’s as good as  _ helpless— _

“Not gonna swim?”

Legend’s voice dragged Hyrule from his thoughts. Sunlight shone off his blonde hair, lines of white spinning across his tunic from the water. A pleased flush sat heavy on his cheeks, eyes bright as the river lapped close to his feet. 

“Oh,” Hyrule said, wiping his hand down his tunic. “No,” he told Legend, “I think I’m going to pass.”

Tilting his head to the side, Legend narrowed his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.”

Hyrule didn’t know what that last hum meant, so he turned away, pretending that he was focused on a pale white butterfly that fluttered from one small yellow flower to another. Laughter rose behind him, filling the cracks and crevices of the world. 

He breathed in. Held it. Forced his shoulders to relax.  _ Get ahold of yourself _ .  _ It’s  _ **_fine._ ** _ They’re all laughing because they’re having fun! _

His jitters loosened their hold on him, Hyrule breathing out in response to the forced calm. However, when he turned back to the water, he found that Legend was still standing there, an eyebrow raised and pale blue eyes examining him.

“You’re not going to throw me in the water, are you?” Hyrule asked, a twinge of nervous energy clinging to his voice. Legend snorted in response.

“ _ No _ , I’m not going to throw you in the water.” Legend rolled his eyes. “You kidding? You’ll be long gone before I can even grab you, never mind get you close to the water.”

Hyrule sighed, cursing himself for being so damn readable. Who is he kidding? Of  _ course  _ Legend would catch on to his discomfort. It was  _ always  _ Legend.

“Aw, what?” Wild butted in, sauntering up to the two. His hair is dripping wet, clinging to his bare shoulders and flinging everywhere with every brief movement. “You don’t want to swim? Why not?”

“Uh…” Hyrule didn’t reply. What could he  _ possibly _ say that wouldn’t make him sound insane?  _ Oh no, Wild, I don’t want to swim because I’m so used to undead skeleton fish trying to eat my flesh hiding in the rivers! And those polluted waters that would release bubbles filled with poisonous gas! And I have magical shoes that let me walk on water because I can’t swim, so I never learned!  _ That wouldn't work! He would just look ridiculous!

But nothing was coming to mind. Hyrule just stood there, blinking a couple times as he struggled to come up with an answer for the two other heroes eyeing him. 

“I just...” he shrugged, “there are things that need to be done, isn’t there?”

But that was it, wasn’t it? There was  _ always  _ something that needed to be done. 

Rescue a princess, defeat a monster, stop a civil war.

(Find the pieces of a power he never wanted to begin with.)

Legend crossed his arms over his chest. “Nothing that needs to be done right  _ now _ ,” he said. “You can relax for a bit.”

“Yeah!” Wild swooped over, draping his arm around Hyrule’s shoulders. His skin was damp and left a cool, black mark along the brown tunic. “We have a bit of time before we need to do all that stuff! Besides,” He tugged Hyrule closer to the shoreline. “It’ll be nice to get your feet cooled down after all that walking.”

Heels dug into the dirt, sliding through half-dried mud, slipping over smooth rocks. Cursing his smaller form, Hyrule leaned back. He stared at the glimmering surface of the water, breath catching in his throat. “I really—” His boot slipped on a stone. Wild caught him before he fell, pulling him closer to the water. “I don’t—” 

“Hey,” Legend spoke up, his teasing tone hardening, “Wild, hold on—”

The river sunk into some mud, lapping at Hyrule’s boots and he stared at it, hanging onto the phantom of a pillar, fingers digging into stone as beautifully toxic waters bubbled beneath him.

_ Let go, _ they snarled and hissed and gurgled.  _ Let go, little Hylian. Let go. _

“--Rule? Hyrule?”

Legend’s voice wrenched Hyrule from his memory and he tore his gaze from the river, aware of the pounding against his ribs and the roar in his ears. “I—s-sorry, did you say something?”

“I was sayin’ you should probably take your boots off first, if you go in.”

“Oh. Yes. R-right.” He didn’t lean down to undo the laces, still watching where the water brushed against hardened leather. 

Another splash.

Another flinch.

“You all right, kid?”

Swallowing, Hyrule tried to steady his trembling hands. “You know?” he said, his voice clung to his throat like a spiderweb, sticking to his molars and tonsils. “I’m just... I’m  _ really  _ tired. Maybe I’ll just go take a nap.”

Wild shifted. His broken reflection looked over at Legend’s twisted features. “Sure,” he said, lifting his arm off Hyrule’s shoulders. “The river’s not going anywhere.”

_ Unfortunately _ , Hyrule thought, keeping his hands stubbornly at his side instead of folding them over his chest. “Yeah,” he fought to keep his tone steady, “that’s true.”

Even with an exit presented to him, Hyrule didn’t move. His eyes were trained on the innocent waves, trained on his own darkened reflection. It seemed to grin up at him, growing darker and darker as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. The water reached for him, trying to coax him to wander into its depths, to trap him underneath the waves. It bubbled and gurgled, sticking to the leather of his boots, slowly dragging him closer and closer while his reflection laughed—

“You’ll never take me alive, you big oaf!”

The trance shattered. Hyrule tore his gaze away from the water, ignoring Wild and Legend’s confused looks, only to see Wind barreling toward him, Twilight hot on his heels. Wind was looking over his shoulder as he ran, unaware of his surrounding companions save for the one chasing him down.

Before any of them can react, before any of them can foresee where this is going, Wind slammed into Hyrule with a loud shout, knocking both of them off balance and leaving them helpless as gravity grabbed onto their forms and  _ pulled _ . 

The splash was deafening as water surged around his body, swallowing his clothes, making them impossibly heavy. Wild thrashing caused a cacophony of bubbles to swim around his head, swarming like a hundred thousand tiny silent bees. They blocked any means of escape, turning the universe upside down and making left look right and right look up. 

Rocks slammed into Hyrule’s back, forcing his mouth open, and his desperate hold on the air left in his lungs was punched out of him. His body gasped on instinct and coolness sunk through his mouth, burned up the back of his nose, sliced down his throat. It was shards of ice against his gums. Flaming bits of lava in his chest. 

Another cough. 

Another shot of liquid fire.

Buzzing roared up his fingers and wrists, settling into his arms and shoulders. A numbness settled in the gaps of his bones, holding him like a puppet that just kept getting tangled in its own strings. 

Hyrule bit down on his tongue, fought against the jerking of his diaphragm as it  _ raged  _ against his stomach. His feet kicked at nothing, his fingers clawed at mass that didn’t exist. The world grew far and close, embracing and holding him at a distance. 

_ Let go, little Hylian, _ the bubbles sang, weaving around his head a spiderweb he couldn’t tear free from,  _ let go… _

Darkness dipped around his vision, clawing around him with blanket-like talons.

A shadow blotted out the light, floating closer and closer in the murky depths. It stretched, it twisted, it was nothing and everything reaching towards him—and the buzzing of his muscles screamed as he lifted his hand. His eyes stung, trying to work past the broken blurred world to find anything that looked like hope _.  _

Something snagged his tunic. 

Sheer  _ panic _ replaced any kind of rationality left. Hyrule lashed out, kicking with everything he had left as his hands scrabbled at whatever was tangled in his clothes. Bubbles swam in between them, shielding the shadow from his view as he struggled and struggled to break free.

Another thing seized his wrist, pulling it away as he was reeled in like a fish on a line. The grip was akin to  _ iron _ , holding Hyrule fast. His heart slammed in his burning chest, his limbs heavy as the cold around him and the heat in his chest stomped down on the fight left until it was a squashed bug beneath its heel. He was tugged through the water, a small trail of bubbles trickling from the corner of his mouth as the current battered across his torso, the river howling as it tried to pull him back down.

Up. Up.  _ Up _ .

The light battled the shadows that tried to collapse in on him. Blood roared in his ears. 

Hyrule’s head broke the surface of the river, water dripping out of his mouth, streaming down his chin. Noise erupted around him, dampened by the odd feeling of cotton stuffed in his ears. 

His hateful, furious lungs contracted when a hand circled his back, and he shuddered. Water ripped through his lungs, clawing at his flesh, dragging razor blades up the back of his throat. He coughed and sputtered, snot dripping down his nose, bile rising from his stomach. 

Hands held him as he half sobbed-half vomited what felt like half the world’s oceans back into the river. Hyrule clawed at the fingers tangled in his clothes, digging his nails in to hold on in case they loosened at all. 

They didn’t. Instead, they pulled him back against a broad chest, keeping him steady and—more importantly— _ above _ the water. 

“You’re okay,” A voice rumbled against his back, legs sloshing through the water, hoisting Hyrule back to shore. “You’re okay.”

He hiccuped and reached up to hold on, coughing wetly against a soaked tunic, his eyes half open. There was a face above him with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. It took a couple of blinks for Hyrule to realize that the markings across his savior’s forehead wasn’t mud, but a familiar diamond-like symbol.

Twilight only pulled Hyrule closer, keeping him afloat. He raised a hand to cradle the back of Hyrule’s head, fingers getting tangled in his wet hair, and pressed the smaller hero’s cheek against his shoulder.

Hyrule let him, closing his eyes and shuddering.

(Maybe Twilight wouldn’t notice a few more stray drops of water against his tunic.

Maybe he could hide his tears with the rest of the river.)

* * *

Brown hair dried in thick clumps, the ends cracking whenever Hyrule tugged on them. He didn’t really have time to explore the texture; someone always recaptured his arm and trapped it back in his cocoon of blankets. Fire licked at his feet, far enough away that he wiggled his toes and could feel the amber warmth working up through his bare soles, up his ankles, and settle in his calves.

His drenched clothing hung off a nearby tree, only slightly dripping after being wrung out by one of the others.

One of the other  _ eight _ . 

Hyrule ducked his head further into his blankets, ignoring the blazing burn blossoming across his cheeks. 

(It hadn’t taken very long for the panic to bleed away into shame, after all. It had settled pretty easily in his belly when a pair of steady hands helped his trembling ones to peel off his tunic and trousers.)

Every breath caught in his scratchy throat, every blink stung his eyes. He watched the flames of the fire as they crackled away, carefree and oblivious to the strife rearing its ugly head in his heart, intertwining beautifully with regret and embarrassment.

“Here.”

A cup shoved into his vision pulled Hyrule from his trance. The pale blue eyes of Legend did nothing to soothe his nerves, only causing more turmoil as Hyrule took the cup and shrunk in on himself, careful to keep the liquid inside from spilling. To his dismay, Legend plopped down beside him with a sigh, sitting far too close for comfort.

“It’s just milk with some honey,” he explained when Hyrule only peered at the drink. “It should help with your throat.”

Hyrule took a sip just to save himself from further embarrassment, not even tasting it as he choked it down. His stomach churned in response.

They sat in a tense silence—on Hyrule’s end, at least—as the others kept up idle chatter around the fire. Occasionally a pair of eyes drifted his way, sometimes glimmering with concern, sometimes soft with sympathy, but Hyrule kept his gaze trained on the cup.

“Listen, ‘Rule,” Legend began.  _ Here we go.  _ “This is an easy fix.”

Easy, huh? Easy for him to say. There is  _ nothing  _ easy about Hyrule and water. He didn’t have lakes or rivers that were clean and as clear as a crystal. He had murky, tainted waters that poisoned hylians and monsters alike, that bubbled into the air and left burns on any skin it touched, that housed the undead aquatic creatures that were unlucky enough to swim into those waters and now hunger for flesh.

“Swimming takes only a little practice and then you’re an expert,” Legend added, each word a blow to Hyrule’s pride. “I can help teach you— “

Hyrule shook his head in refusal, slowly at first, then faster until his hair was swinging around his head. His throat still burned from the bile and hacking coughs and Legend stayed quiet during his first tremulous tries to finally-- _ finally _ \--get out a; “No. I’m good.”

Legend’s frown burned into the side of his head, but Hyrule didn’t look his way. He didn’t want to see those pale blue eyes scrutinize him. He would rather stare into the cup of rapidly cooling milk and wait for Legend to  _ eventually _ leave. He knew Legend was just trying to help, he  _ knew _ , but…

The sting of failure left a bitter taste in his mouth, his pride in shambles. Has Legend ever felt that before? Hyrule doubted it, considering how nothing but praise has ever reached his ears. There’s a  _ reason  _ why the Hero of Legend was given that very title in the first place. He was everything Hyrule would never be, but strived for nonetheless.

And his very idol had watched him nearly drown in the same river he had been playing in mere hours ago.

“Hyrule,” Legend huffed.

Hyrule clamped down like the jaws of a zora down on the wince and held on tight, dragging it down so no one noticed.  _ Hopefully _ . 

A warm hand clapped him on the shoulder, an action that was supposed to be comforting but instead only made his stomach tie itself into knots. “Being afraid of the water isn’t a bad thing, but knowing how to swim would— “Hyrule’s head was shaking before Legend could finish and he ducked away. The sentence didn’t continue. He took another sip of the milk. It was lukewarm, but sweet, finding the scratches and tears in his throat and filling them with gentle, honied cream. 

“He’s right you know.”

Both Hyrule and Legend looked over to their left to see Four had, at some point, made himself comfortable beside them without their notice, sitting with his legs crossed and a kind smile on his face. “Being afraid of the water isn’t a bad thing at all, but knowing how to swim could ensure you survive another encounter like that.”

“Nosy,” Hyrule heard Legend mumble under his breath. If Four heard him, he didn’t show any sign of it. Instead, he kept his eyes on Hyrule, waiting expectantly for any kind of response.

“I…” Hyrule shrunk further into the blankets, cradling his cup of milk close. “I don’t…”

“If it’s any comfort, Wild is  _ abysmal _ at swimming,” Four added with a smirk, side-eyeing said hero. 

That caught Wild’s attention, despite the other hero being caught up in another conversation with Warriors, who snickered at the offended look on his face as he whipped around to glare at Four. “I am  _ not _ ,” He protested.

Four rolled his eyes. “Please, you’re  _ terrible  _ without that zora suit!”

“I don’t see  _ you  _ swimming like a champ, shortstack!”

“Excuse you,” Four raised his chin, looking down his nose at Wild as he pressed a hand to his chest. “I happen to have swam my way out of many whirlpools and have navigated a beach infested with monsters I had to swim through.  _ I know how to swim. _ ”

Wild spluttered in reply, reeling back with words caught on his tongue, tripping over themselves in a rush of tumbling puns. The bickering rose like the sparks of the fire, filling the campsite. Hyrule watched Twilight pick his head up, roll his eyes, and flop back down on the grass. Sky, beside him, whistled a tune that sounded more like birdsong but continued to work on whichever new carving was taking form in his hand.

Time, sitting across the fire, rubbed his palm across his face—but Hyrule was pretty sure it was to hide his smile than in exasperation.

A sliver of bouncing playfulness snuck through the constricting lack of air that had seemed so permanent in Hyrule’s lungs and the heated glares, the sharp tongue quips, the playful pokes settled in with the river water. 

From the depths of the burn that ached against his chest, a chuckle bubbled up, found its way through his throat, popped around his teeth. Hyrule’s nose scrunched and his eyes squeezed shut, the laughter making his body shake. 

(He missed the way Four turned and smiled at him. He missed the way Wild faltered for just a moment before a smile of his own spread across his face as he put two and two together.) 

“Hey, don’t laugh at me!” Wild whined, marching over to stand in front of Hyrule with his hands on his hips and a mockery of a stern glare on his face. The anger on his face looked like it had been painted poorly on by a child’s hand. “Who do you think made that drink for you?”

Behind him, Four put his fingers in his mouth, pulled open his lips, and stuck his tongue out at Wild. Eyes crossed, he made a caricature of their friend.

Hyrule’s chuckle grew into a full-blown laugh, and beside him, Legend let out a snort. Wild whipped around, but Four was sitting innocently with his hands in his lap and lips pursed in a cheery whistle.

“Will you  _ knock it off,  _ Four?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do, you little—”

Laughter turned into rough, haggard coughing, and Hyrule set the cup to the side so it wouldn’t spill over the blanket. His eyes watered and his throat stung, but there was a hand on his back, rubbing up and down his spine. 

“Break it up, you two,” Legend waved away their argument, laughter still clinging to his words. “We have other things to deal with than your absurd pettiness.”

A squawk of insulted pride started another round.

Hyrule rubbed his cheek into soft fabric, sighing as fingers brushed through his hair. Voices settled in his ears, words not quite catching his attention as the heat from the blankets and the lateness in the day wrapped around him. Legend’s voice was heavy around his shoulders, like a winter scarf, Four’s filled his ribs, and Wild settled in his already weighted limbs. 

The warm tin of a mug pressed against his hand and he took it, blinking slowly as the ache in his chest eased. 

“Drink,” Wild said, nodding to the milk. “You’ll feel better.”

Hyrule drank. The warmth was fleeing the liquid quickly, but it still settled in him like a happy, lazy cat. 

“You know,” Four started and his eyes were focused on the dimly lit boughs of the surrounding trees. “I know you don’t want to but... it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. Or even this week; but you...” he swallowed and didn’t look over at Hyrule. “You almost  _ drowned _ .”

Hyrule ducked his face down into the blanket. A flush spread over his cheeks once more. 

“And what would have happened if Twilight hadn’t managed to grab you? What--” Four swallowed, breathed in, breathed out. “We can’t help with a lot of things, so what we can help with, we do.”

He turned and caught Hyrule’s gaze, his eyes bright in the firelight, face drawn in a seriousness that hadn’t been there moments before.

“Will you let us help you with this?”

Maybe it was the milk and honey, maybe it was the warmth of the blankets and the fingers carding through his hair. It could have been the silence or the fire, the way the night crawled out hiding places and called out the stars.

Maybe it was simply just the timing of it all.

Hyrule nodded and shied away from the answering smiles.

“Thank you,” Four said.

There was no response from Hyrule as an arm tightened around his shoulder and pulled him into a sideways hug.

(He fell asleep like that moments later, cheek buried into Legend’s shoulder, forehead against Legend’s neck, an arm wrapped around his waist as quiet conversation created a slow lullaby that eased him into dreams full of fluttering bee wings, fluffed cream, and rumbling thunderstorms.)

* * *

Water lapped at Hyrule’s ankles, tickling a scar that started at his heel and arched over his calf. He could see his toes beneath the rippling surface, broken apart and formed back together.

Steam lifted from the surface, swirling and settling heavily on the air of the bathhouse. Laughter climbed with it, light and sunshine bright. He could see Twilight dunking Wind back into the water, both of them giggling and splashing. Warriors, who was leaning against the wall, got hit by a wave and sputtered, shaking his head like a dog before diving in with a yowl. 

“Ready?” Four pulled up next to him, a towel around his waist. “It’s not running water and it’ll probably only come up to your waist at the deepest.”

Hyrule breathed in. Watched as Twilight and Warriors hoisted up a squealing Wind and tossed him a good five feet into the water. He held that air in his lungs until the small hero surfaced with a laugh. With a sigh, he glanced at Four out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t  _ really _ have much of a choice, do I?”

“No,” Four patted him on the back. “Not really.” He picked his head up. “Wild! Get over here!”

There was a yelp from the other side of the bathhouse and Hyrule glanced over the others, counting out seven before he found Legend sitting, legs in the water, head tilted back. He opened his eyes beneath Hyrule’s gaze and stared back.

_ All right? _

There was slapping feet against tile, the gentle gurgle of draining water, the warmth around his feet, and a steady hand on his wrist. He turned away, watching a blur of gold and blue skid towards them.

“Stop running, you idiot!”

“Wild!  _ Wild _ !”

The scarred hero grinned at him, ignoring the shouting that followed him. “I’m here,” he said, barely out of breath. 

Hyrule couldn’t stop the fond shake of his head or the slight smile that blossomed across his face. Four and Wild chatted as they stepped into the water, tugging him forward but letting him take it at his own pace.

When the pool was up to his chest, they stopped. 

He rested his hands on the surface, watched as the steam made gloves around his fingers.

Wild swung his arm over Hyrule’s shoulders. “Not so bad, is it?” He said with a grin, patting Hyrule’s chest.

“I’m beginning to realize that I should have brought a stool,” Four glared down at the water lapping at his upper chest as if his height was  _ its _ fault. 

“Aren’t you going to be swimming?”

“Well,  _ yes _ , but it’s a bit hard to stand…”

“Why don’t you just swim then?”

“I want to at least show Hyrule the basic stuff before I go and do it!”

Hyrule exhaled, patted his hands on the water. “Guys.  _ Guys _ ,” he said, the words peppered with light amusement. 

Four and Wild quieted before another squabble could begin. 

“Why don’t,” the words caught in his throat and he swallowed, trying to keep his tone light as the bitter embarrassment woke in his stomach once more. “Why don’t one of you show me and the other one explains?”

They both turned his way and gave him wide,  _ proud _ smiles that lit up both of their faces like the sun. Butterflies made their way into his stomach, causing yet  _ another  _ blush to dust his cheeks. He ducked his head, realizing he'd been played, but Wild only tugged him close until he was flush against his side.

“ _ Excellent _ idea!” He ruffled Hyrule’s hair, earning a squawk. “You’ll be swimming in no time!”

Batting away Wild’s hands, Hyrule moved further into the water, dipping his hands below the surface. It was warm around his freckled skin, bubbles that had been caught beneath his nails rising to the surface. He took in another deep breath.

“You okay?”

Hyrule tore his attention away from the steam to glance over at Four. “Fine,” he said, rubbing warm water over his upper arms. “Just, um. What’s first?”

Four and Wild looked him over before turning to each other. Their smiles dropped away to slight frowns. 

“Floating,” Four said at last. “Even if you can’t swim it’s always good to know how to float.”

Sure that his response of how he had magic boots for that would be discarded, Hyrule held his tongue and watched as Four tipped back into the water, bringing his feet up and spreading his arms so he was, in fact, floating on the surface.

Until Wild pressed a palm against his chest and shoved him under.

Surfacing with a sputter, Four dragged his arm through the water and sent a wave at the cackling Wild. 

Hyrule ignored them, brought his hands back up, spread his fingers along the surface. The magic of the boots helped to spread his weight from his toes to his heel with  _ oomph _ so he wouldn’t sink. He was leaning back before he could think about it.

A hand grabbed his wrist.

“Hold on there,” Four said, tugging him back to where he and Wild had been arguing. “Don’t do that. The whole point of this is  _ not _ to freak you out.”

Hyrule blinked but allowed himself to be guided back. 

“That’s the right idea, though; you  _ do  _ start by laying back in the water,” Four told him. “It’s just better if one of us holds your shoulders for you before you try on your own.”

Turning, he glanced back at Legend.

The blue eyes had never turned away. Hadn’t dared to blink. They had soaked it all up, observing in silence.

As Hyrule was tipped back into the hands of his friends, the warm water lapping at his cheeks, he could feel his heart pound in his ribcage, trying to scramble away. Palms pressed against his shoulder blades, keeping him above the water. He reached out when a wave from the other end of the pool rose over his chest, hitting the bottom of his chin—

Someone took hold of him, squeezing his fingers, and didn’t flinch away when his nails dug in.

Wild leaned over, blocking out the sun, giving him a small, kind smile before pulling away. His words were lost in the dampened roar of water in his ears.

Hyrule brought in a slow, trembling breath, hyper aware of the sound it made as it vibrated through his throat, and thought back to Legend’s unspoken question. Clouds passed over him, steam chasing to touch their distant cousins. 

Laughter spilled from the other side of the bathhouse, a strange echo beneath the water that seeped into his skin.

_ You know what? _

His death grip loosened on the hand. Still holding, just not as tightly. There are no monsters, no undead creatures, nothing dragging him to the bottom of the pool to drown him, just gentle ripples caressing his face and Wild’s hands keeping him afloat.

_ I think I am. _

**Author's Note:**

> WORKING WITH SILONA IS A PLEASURE AND A GIFT AND I CAN PUT THIS HERE SO SHE CAN'T DELETE IT HAHA - Grim


End file.
